Addressing attachment for typewriters



w. e. CROCKER. ADDRESSING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25. 1921.

Patented Aug. 16, 1921. I

2 SHEETSSH EET 1- W. G. CROCK-ER. ADDRESSING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS.

APPLICATION FILED 1AN.25, 1921.

1,388,099. nted Aug. 16, 1921.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2. I

ii o .7 a a. 16 5 v UNITED S ATES PATENT OFFICE,

WILLIAM G. CROCKER, OF'LISBON, NOR'IHDAKOTA.

, ADDRESSING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS. r

' Application filed. January 25,1921.

To all whom it may concern:

upon. These articles are usually small, and

under ordinary conditions carry but a few short lines of printed matter. They are not easily inserted into the'typewriter, alined, and held in place during the printing operations, with typewriting machinesas ordinarily equipped for office work. It is therefore the object of my invention to produce a simply constructed article, offew parts, and

that may be cheaply manufactured, which can be easily and quickly applied to a type writer when cards are to be printed, and as easilyremoved therefrom when the typewriter is to be put to its ordinary use of writing upon larger and more fiexiblesheets. By the use of my invention a card may be introduced into the typewriter in front of the platen, instead of from the back thereof as is the ordinary practice in using typewriting machines, the bottom or following edge of the card being placed between the platen and the attachment and carried downwardly and backwardly by a short reverse movement of the platen in order to bring the card to the desired position toreceive the first line of printed matter that is to appear thereon. Those features which characterize my invention will be pointed out in the following specification and are illustrated in -,the accompanying drawings. Throughout this specification I use the wordicard in an inclusive sense, rather than specifically, to designatev the piece written .upon, whether that be an envelop,large or small, an index card, a piec'e'of stifl paper, a stencil that is to be out by the type of the typewriter, or other like article, of whatever size, to be operated uponv by the types of the typewriter, such article usually, although not necessarily, be-

ing'of small size and stifl, as compared with the sheets fused in the ordinary workof the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 16, 1921 Serial No. 439,808. f

typewriting machine nent may be applied. 7

My inventlon is adapted to be used in connection with front-strike typewriters of the to which my attachcommercial styles now in use, it requiring 1F igure 1 is a perspective view of the attachment, detached.

F1g. 2 is a perspective view of my inven tion applied to an Underwood typewriter.

- Flg, 3 -1s a transverse sectional View of the parts illustrated in Fig. 2. a

Fig. 4 is a view of the invention applied tov a Remington typewriter.

Fig. 5 is a broken perspective view illustrating one manner of securing the attachment to a typewriter carriage frame.

Fig. 6 is a detached view of the plate 30 employed in a machine like that shown in Fig. 2. c

Referring to the drawings, 2, 2 indicate the end frame pieces of the typewriter carriage, in which is mounted the platen 3. At

18, and the front and rear paper feed rolls 6 and 7. These rolls may be moved away from the platen to release the paper by means of the paper release lever or key 8. The parts thus far described areof well knownconstruction and are found in modified form and arrangement in most, if not all, of the typewriting machines now in common use. The same reference characters are used in Figs. 2, 3 and 4:, to designate the parts that r are similar in function, although they differ in form and location.

The attachment constit'utingmy invention comprises a plate 9, formed preferably of thin resilient material, Such as sheet metal.

It is preferably of length. a little less than the distance between the inner edges of the opposite end frame pieces 2 of the typewriter carriage, so as to be readily supported between these. Through the central portion of the plate 9 is an opening 10, formed by cutting away the material thereof, of a size to expose as much of the card A as it is desired should be written upon. The type, carried by the type bar 11, operates upon the card through this opening, from the front. Thelower portion, 12, of the plate is curved slightly so that when the attachment is in use it will lie close to and be approximately concentric with the face of the platen. This part of the plate is preferably slotted, at 28, to receive the front paper feed rolls 6, which are moved away from the platen by means of the release lever mit this, when the attachment is applied to the typewriter. The rolls which are springpressed toward the platen, operate through the slots in plate 9 to hold the said lower curved edge of the plate in proper position close to the face of the platen, and to press the card securely against the platen, thus assisting in feeding the same and in spacing. 16, 16 designate rollers carried by the plate at either side of the opening 10, and with their axis of rotation approximately coinciding with the printing line when the attachment is properly applied to the typewriter for use. They operate to hold the card firmly against the platen in position to be printed upon and assist in feeding and spacing. They are mounted upon shafts 18 Sup ported in flanges 19 turned up from the material forming the plate 9 and operate in openings '17 formed through the plate. The attachment is provided with another roller 20 adapted to bear upon the card above the printing line and to assist in holding it against the platen, so that the key may strike the card solidly. This roller is carried by a swinging arm 21 pivotally supported by the cross piece 22 of the plate 9 located above the opening 10. In some typewriting machines the roller 20 and its carrying arm might interfere with the type, and when this is the case it can be swung to one side as represented in Fig. 4. 2

At the ends of the plate 9 are pivoted catches 23 adapted to be caused to engage with the end frame pieces 2 of the carnage in typewriters constructed like the Under wood typewriting machine, as indicated in Fig. 5. The outer edges of the catches are notched as at 24 to facilitate secure engagement between them and the typewriter frame when the catches are swung outwardly into holding positions. These catches serve to hold the attachment securely in working po- I sition and are easily operated both to secure the 'holder'when it is applied to the machine and to release it when it is desired to remove the attachment. The catches 23 are typical They are in position to 8 to perof holding means adapted to be brought into engagement with the frame of the typewriter for holding the attachment in place and may be widely varied to suit the particular typewriting machine for which the holding attachment may be made.

25, 25 represent tangs struck up from the material of the plate 9 and located between the central opening 10 therein and its ends. engage with the arms 26 carrying the paper margin rolls of a Remington typewriter, as represented in Fig. 4-. They pass through the openings in which lie the paper margin rolls 27, directly below such rolls, and engage with the edges of the arms bounding said openings and thus serve to hold the attachment in place. The arms 26 are adjustable longitudinally relative to the platen, and are shifted into proper positions to be engaged by the tangs 25 when the attachment is to be applied to the typewriter. These tangs are not used when the card holding plate is applied to an Underwood typewriting machine, the swinging catches 23 being used instead; while on the other hand, the catches are not used when the attachment is applied to a Remington typewriting machine, the tangs then serving as the holding means. It might be with certain types of machines that both holding means could be used together. The article shown in Fig. 1, as has been explained, is adapted for use upon two well-known and extensively used typewriting machines.

In applying the attachment to an Underwood typewriter, the arms 26 carrying the paper margin rolls are thrownout of the way as indicated in Fig. 2. The release lever 8 is then adjusted to move the paper feed rolls 6 and 7 away from the platen. The

card-holding plate'9, with its curved edge 1O downward and its concaveface toward the platen, is then inserted between the end frame pieces of the typewriter carriage in front of the platen and moved downwardly, its lower curved edge being held in contact with the platen. While the attachment is being put into position the front feed rolls 7 are preferably moved away from the platen, by the paper release lever 8 until the attachment is in place when the said rollers will lie in the slots 28. The rollers 7 bearing against the card, hold it in proper position close to the face of the platen and near the front edge of the bottom paper apron 13. When the card holding plate has been adjusted to claim and desire to secure by Letters Patline of writing. The address or other matter to be written upon the card is now printed in the ordinary way, and spacing is performed as ordinarily. When the attachment is to be applied to a Remington typewriter the arms 26 carrying the paper margin rolls are adjusted to positions to be engaged by the tangs 25. The holder is then inserted in the same way as has just been described in connection with the Underwood typewriter except that the arms 26 have to be sprung forwardly sufliciently to permit the tangs to pass behind them until they come opposite the slits below the paper margin rolls, when the tangs will enter such slits and hold the attachment in position.

The attachment constituting my invention may be applied to the typewriting machine for which it is fitted in a few seconds time. Its application does not require the use of a skilled operator or the use of any tools.

When its use is no longer required it may be easily and quickly removed, whereupon the typewriter is in condition for ordinary uses, since the application of the attachment does not require the removal of any of the parts of a typewriter, nor the addition of any parts, except in some models of the Underwood typewriter which require a small plate 30, Figs. 2 and 6, at the left end of the carriage to be engaged by the catch 23 that swings outwardly to the left. This plate is attached by simply removing a set screw ordinarily found in typewriters of this type, and after the plate 30 has been put in position replacing the screw in the hole in the plate. The plate then remains on the machine and does not interfere with the regular work. Its edge is preferably notched as indicated at 30, Fig. 6, to cooperate with the notched edge of the catch 23. 7

Having described my invention what I ent is:

1. A card-holding attachment adapted to be applied to a front-strike typewriting machine in front of the platen thereof, comprising a plate having an opening expos ing the card to be written upon, through which the type may operate, the lower end of the plate being curved to conform to the curvature of the platen and lie close to the face thereof when the attachment is in use,

7 necting the and the upper portion of the plate being fitted with rollers to direct the card toward the said lower edge and carrying means by which the plate is united with the paper carriage and held' in place relative to the platen.

2. A card-holding attachment adapted to be applied to a front-strike typewriting machine in front of the platen thereof, comprising a plate having a centrally located opening through which the card to be written upon is exposed, the lower portion of the plate extending below the said opening and operating to hold the card close to the plat-en of the typewriter, and means located between the said central opening and the ends of the plate for connecting the attachment with the carriage of the typewriter and holding it in position for use.

3. A card-holding attachment adapted to be applied to a front-strike typewriting machine, comprising a plate having a centrally located opening through which the card to be written upon is exposed, the lower portion of the plate extending below and across the said opening and operating a plurality of sets ofmeans for connecting the attachment with the carriage of. a typewriter, one element of each set being located between the central opening of the plate and each end thereof, and one set of means being adapted for use in connecting the attachment to the carriage of a typewriter of one make, and another set to be used in connecting the attachment to the carriage of a typewriter of another make.

4. The combination with the cylindrical platen of a typewriter, the under paper feed-v ing means associated therewith, and means for moving away from the cylinder the said paper feeding means, of an attachment for holding cards against the platen while being printed upon consisting of a separable plate with an opening through it through which the types act upon the card and provided with a curved lower edge adapted to be inserted betwe'enthe platen and the paper feeding means and to be held close to the platen, and easily adjustable means for conplaten with a typewriting carriage to holdthe former in place.

WILLIAM G. CROCKER. 

